Anybody on here have the original spare for their cars? My 69 1/2 has it, as do my 79 T-Bird and a 78 Pinto. In fact the Pinto spare still has it's white chalk markings on the tread!
I have a few original spares I have removed from cars I have parted out. It is pretty rare to find the orignal spare.
Still have the one that came with my car. Never used, still has the rubber nibs sticking out of the tread. Looks like it was never removed from my trunk until I took it out.
Still have mine in the trunk it was never used. Also have the 4 matching tires than came with the car however I don't think I'd wanna drive to far on them.
Mine had the original bias ply in the back untouched, has overspray across it, from when the car was hit and repainted way back when. I put a radial in back and saved the bias ply. Had bias plys on all 4 wheels also when I bought it, they were stamped 1977 right on the inner walls.
The Maverick is a blackwall 6.45x14 Firestone Deluxe Champion, the Pinto is a Whitewall A78-14 Firestone Deluxe Champion, and the T-Bird is a Michelin Whitewall HR78-15. The Mav one has been used, but has lots of tread left. The Pinto one came out of a car wrecked in 1980 with 12,080 miles onit and has never been used. The T-Bird one I actually used on my 74 Montego back in 2001, but not since. It also looks unused. In fact, the Mav one has no visible cracks or any other damage on the sidewall. With a new valve stem it would probably hold air.
The amount of tread is not the problem on old tires, it's the breakdown of the rubber in the casing. While it might hold air, it would be dangerous to try and drive on it. Tire makers recomend 5-7 years age on a casing, after that, throw it away. I had a 38 Chrysler that had been sitting since the 50's that had tubeless tires with great tread and no cracks in the sidewalls. It sat in my old building for 5-6 years and they never went down. When I sold it, one of them blew out with us pushing it across the yard!
The 73 still has the original bias-ply spare and jack in the trunk, looks like it was never removed! The 76 trunk was empty!!!
I drove this car to church one Sunday morning. I was running late and my wife had driven seperately in her van. When we got out...I had a flat tire. No way was I going to put the ORIGINAL spare on that car and drive it. Wife drove me home (8 miles). I got a spare wheel/tire. She took me and the tire back to church, put it on the car and then drove my car back home. Wife thought I was nuts!!
